Sephora Friends & Family Sale Haul

Today is my birthday!  Because my birthday is in December, I am unfortunate in the gifting department; I get the either or present, being my birthday or Christmas and not usually both. So I treat myself to something special to mark the occasion, not that I don't do that anyway. Luckily, the Sephora Friends & Family Sale happened close enough to my birthday to justify a splurge that saves too!

Earlier this year, sometime in the summer I think it was, Sephora terminated their Sephora by OPI brand and replaced it with Formula X for Sephora which is a relaunch of Sephora X that came out last year.  At first I was interested in the Xplosive Top Coats, but after testing them out in-store, I decided not to get any of those because they were not what I expected (I thought they looked bad and the coverage was not consistent.)  After browsing the collection for what seemed like forever, I decided on four polishes:

• Transformers Top Coats - Kaleidoscope: "violet iridescence"
• Sparklers - Light My Fire: "champagne and rainbow 3D glitter"
• Shifters - Legend: "maroon and rainbow metallic"
• Sparklers - Law of Attraction: "champagne and blue 3D glitter"

I also picked up one of the Marc Jacobs Beauty Enamored Hi-Shine Nail Lacquers in Blue Velvet and Illamasqua Pink Rain Drops Nail Varnish (with the Temptalia awards sticker!)  I also needed a nail buffing block and Sephora makes a 4 sided one that is labeled so you know what side you are using;  I can't believe how many brands don't label the sides :-/

I really wanted the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Palette, but it sold out immediately both online and in-store.  I have not seen it re-stocked yet, so it may be gone for good :-(

The other hot ticket item on my list was the Limited Edition Nars Guy Bourdon One Night Stand Cheek Palette which includes Laguna Bronzer, a highlighter, two of Nars best selling blushes including Orgasm, and two limited edition blushes.  I love Nars blushes so this was a no brainer buy for me and at $65 it was such a good value too because one blush retails for $29.00 USD and these appear to be full-size.

I also got one of the Ciate Feathered Manicure sets in What a Hoot.  I know you can DIY these types of sets, but I like that everything you need is included and how easy it is when everything is put together for you.  I also have my eye on the Ciate Nail Lab;  Maybe for Christmas :-)

Another Limited Edition item for the holidays is the Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Lip Tar All-Star Mini x4 Set which features four of OCC's best selling Lip Tars in miniature sizes.  Even though I am not a huge fan of the OCC Lip Tars, I decided to get these because of their mini size;  That way I will not feel so bad when they languish in my stash, although xSparkage has a good tutorial on how to keep these fresh.  These would make great stocking stuffers for the OCC fan.

A product that I had been on the fence about for a while is the Stila Magnificent Metals Foil Finish Eye Shadow.  I have read good and bad reviews which gave me pause when thinking about purchasing these.  Luckily, I got to test them in-store with some help from one of the employees and found them to be fabulous;  These have some serious glittery shine.  I loved them so much I got two: Comex Copper (brownish copper sheen) and Kitten (nude pink sheen.)  I might be able to get away with wearing Kitten during the day :-)

A new brand to hit Sephora is LIT Cosmetics with their "No Glitter No Glory" Lit Kits which comes in two exclusive colors: Champagne Wishes and Tinsel Town;  These are not available on LIT's website.  After watching a little Sephora promo video about these products I knew I had to get one.  I got the Champagne Wishes Lit Kit which was in the sample isle in front of the cash registers, but this is a full-size product.  Apparently, these are no longer in stock online, so you might have to search your local Sephora for one of these.  They retail for $19.95 which is a bit steep for glitter, but it comes with fixing liquid and brush so ... yeah.  This kit looks like fun and I think I am going to do a review on it so check back for that.

I have been in need of a good spooly brush after my last one broke :-(  I have heard good things about this Anastasia Beverly Hills Mini Duo Angled/Spooly brush.  It is a two in one brush that will help keep those caterpillars above my eyes in check.

I have been in serious need of a good lip treatment because my lips have been chronically chapped this year.  No matter how much I scrub and moisturize them, they do not get any better.  I decided to try this Hourglass No. 28 Lip Treatment Oil and let me tell you, it works!  I tried it right after buying it and there is nothing I can think of that compares. It is a thick, silky treatment balm that squeezes out of the 24-carat gold tip.  A little bit goes a long way too.  The product itself is definitely worth the steep price tag, but I feel like part of the price is the 24-carat gold tip which does not seem necessary;  It just adds some opulence to the product.

I saw the YU-BE Moisturizing Skin Cream in the sample isle and thought "what the hey, I'll try it!"  It's almost winter and you can never have enough moisturizing creams.

I was tempted into buying the Cover FX Mattifying Primer with Anti-Acne Treatment after buying the CC cream which I am about to test out.  I hope this works well for my acne-prone skin.  I might do a review of this product.

This year's birthday gift from Sephora is by Benefit Cosmetics and is called Real Birthday Turn-Ons and includes deluxe samples of Benefit's They're Real! Mascara and Watts-Up! soft-focus highlighter.

My new favorite nighttime moisturizer is Clinique Moisture Surge Extended Thirst Relief.  It is a light gel that hydrates without irritating acne-prone skin.  I took advantage of the sale to get the larger one.  I just wish Clinique would get with the times and put it in an airless container instead of this bacteria trap of a jar;  One article I read recently called the outdated jar the "trapper keeper" of cosmetics.  My solution for helping to keep it jars as germ free as possible is to pick up the product with a clean cotton swab instead of fingers.

Another skin care product in a jar is the Peter Thomas Roth Therapeutic Sulfur Masque which is supposed to be a really good acne treatment.  I may do a review on this one too.

After trying a sample of the fresh Black Tea Instant Perfecting Mask I knew that I wanted more.  Unfortunately, the price tag on this one is pretty steep at $88.00 which works out to about $23 per ounce which is a lot more than the Peter Thomas Roth mask which costs $8 per ounce.  At least I got it on sale :-/

I got sucked into buying the Glam Glow Gift of Sexy box set which includes a regular size of the Glam Glow Supermud Clearing Treatment mask and a travel size of the Glam Glow Youthmud Tinglexfoliate Treatment mask.  This set is a good value because you are only paying for the full size Supermud mask and you basically get the Youthmud mask for free (a $19.00 value.)  Plus, this reversible box is the coolest packaging I have ever seen on a product.  It is like one of those cootie catchers things kids make;  It folds in on itself several times using magnets so that you can have blue packaging or pink packaging depending on your preference.

I purchased the Boscia Pore Purifying Black Strips cause I needed those, as well as the Boscia Mini Mask Medley.  I wish the mask sample set included the green tea mask too :-(

Lastly, I got a deluxe sample of the Caudalie Beauty Elixir spray which is something I have been curious about for a good long while.

So that concludes all of the items I purchased in-store during the last Sephora Friends & Family event which gives Beauty Insiders 20% off their purchase. That is the most you will get from Sephora and the sale only happens twice a year which accounts for my huge splurge.  Some people spend thousands of dollars, but I actually did pretty well this time compared to the last sale.  I only spent about $1,200.00 which, for me, is not a lot for one of these sales.  I kept wandering the store looking for things and then hemming and hawing over things that I didn't really want or need, and most of it I already have so ... yeah.  My main concern this time was skin care because my skin has just been a nightmare recently.

I splurged on an online purchase of the The Mother Load by Urban Decay eye shadow set, not pictured, which includes all of the reformulated eye shadows from their permanent line, not including the Moon Dust Eye Shadows.  I also got the Urban Decay Eyeliner Vault which includes all of current 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencils, not including the new exclusive colors in the Ocho Loco set.  I posted pictures of these two items on my Instagram a while back if you want to check that out.  I think the two sets were about $900.00 USD and I saved about $200 with this sale. Bam!

FTC Disclaimer: All items featured in this post were purchased.